The Opelousas courier., 1887-06-11
sCALLOP FISHERY.
How This Shell Fish
Brought Into Market.
The Work Of the Dredger and the Opener.
Utilizing the Refuse.

The introduction of the scallop as an
edible into the New York market is as
recent as 1858 or 80. Now the annual
Iroduct of the fishery, which is restrict
ed in area and subject to much variation,
amounts to something like Is, 900 gal
Ions in all, worth from twenty-five to
thirty thousand dollars at first cost, and
New York receives and dispenses about
three fourths. i
Whatever the explanation. the supply
has certainly decreased along our coast
during the past thirty years, even
though certain points-asi In the Peconics
--thcre seems no ~diminution.
The huge, smootlishe'led Pectcn
tenuicostatus Of the North, as big as a
fruit pate, which formerly aboundcd on
the coast of Maine, has now become so
rare as to be a prize in the cabinet Of the
~conchologist rather than an edible com
modity-a result unquestionably due to
o~yer-ggreedy cate inc., and an f.ctive
reply to those men who told me that
they thought the more the scallop beds
were raked the moro plentiful tie
mollusks became. Long Island Sound
no longer affords profitable fishing, and
the depletion there is attributed
by tho local fishermen TO the
fact that in culliLg their dredgc-
loads the little ores were not thrown
back. The same story belongs 10 New
York Bay and much of the New Jersey
coast. The irregularity in respect to
plentitude, and also of tho size and fat
ness Of these mollusks in the three locali-
ties-Bnzzard's Bay, Cowesett Bay, r.
l., and Long Island-where they are still
regularly taken, is steadily complained
OF.
Scallops are caught by hand-dredging
from small sail-boats. The dredges are
about thirty inches in width. have a
seraper blade upon the bottom, and in
favorable weather several may be thrown
over from each boat. In shoal water an
iron-framcd dip-nct is sometimes used
on calm days. 1t is pretty hard work
and entails exposure to very s.vcre
weather.
The only edible part of the scallop is
the squarish mass Of muscle which holds
the shells together, and this part is skill
fully cut out by Openers who have
their houses ut the landing-places where
the dredgers take their cargoes to be
sold. It is the buyer, notethe dredger,
who "opens or ''cuts OUT the meat
and prepares it for market. 10 some
places men alone are employed in this
work, at others women and girls for the
most part, and they will earn from
eighty cents to $1.25 a day. The work
IS performed with great dcxterity. Tic
motions of an expert opener are but
three after the scallop is in hand.
The bivalve is taken in The
left hand, palm up, with the hinges of
the scallop toward the openers body.
The knife-a simple piece of steel ground
sharp and with one end stuck in a
wooden handle-is inserted in the open
ing Of the she'll furthest from the breast.
The upper "eyc" is severed through Ly
This movement. A firt at the same mo.
ment throws off the upper shell. The
second motion cuts the lower fasteniugsl
Of the eye to The upper shell and takca
The soft aud useless rim off. The last
motion pitches tbs shell into one barrel
and the soft and Shiny rim into another,
viii the eye is thrown into a basin OF
yellow stoneWare holding a gallon. They
ire then poured from the basin into a
large coiander, thoroughly washed,
p.acel in clean boxes and shipped 10
New York and Brooklyn. Aslataa
frasAn pTaced IN contact
with the ssnpats' as possible, as it is
thought detrimental to their frmness
and flavor.
There is, or ought TO BE-, no waste in
The scallop fishery. On Long Island the
refuse is taken by the farmers as manure.
These seafaring agricalturists have
always been accustomed to replenish
! Iileir half-cxhaus tied lands with the
scrapings of the beach, and with The
menhal len and other seine-ish which
could be caught pientifuily enough for
The purpose in tho offiag. This demand
failing, there is always sale for the
tefusc to The regular fertilizer factories
uttered along the shore.
The shells are preferred above nil
others by the oyster-planters as stools
,r ssc.uicsl'' to spread upon their deep
Gater planting-aeds as objects upon
which tbs oystcr-spawn may s'setn AM
grow. This wise preference is due to
The fragility Of the scallop-sheli, per-
hitting II to break into pieces under the
strain of 4 growing cluster Of oysters,
zach one Of which will BE- benefited by
he separation, which frees it from the
,rowding of itsfelloWs and gives 1t room
d expand BY itself into comely and val
liable rotundity insteai Of re maining o
trap shaped distorted member Of a
,oalesccnt group. All their shells, there
49, - orosIu IA rnI ~ fhe nnanora ~